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TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume I
Costume design in many ways represents much about the Oscars: glitz, glamor, beauty. But obviously threads do much more than make movie stars look attractive. They build character, set mood, define...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Film Editing — Volume I
I still remember when I was 12 and getting into the Oscars for the first time. My Dad said, “How can you tell if the film has good editing?” To a very large extent, I had to concede his point, as the...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Makeup — Volume I
Makeup and hairstyling builds characters by transforming actors with realism or imagination that would otherwise be lacking on the screen. With the announcement that the Best Visual Effects is...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Score — Volume I
I am marveled by the accomplishments of all the crafts artists who elevate our films, but this is particularly the case with respect to music composers. Composing equals genius as far as I am...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume I
Now matter how many times I watch the Oscars, someone will always ask, “So what is the difference between the two sound categories?” The difference is quite significant. It is so important that the...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Mixing — Volume I
Last week, while discussing the sound editing category, I explained the difference between that art form and sound mixing. The Oscar for the latter is shared between two (or more) persons who...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume I
How often do you go to the movies to escape? To be immersed into a different world, whether it be fantastical, thrilling or action-packed? For many movie-goers, if not most, the answer is “frequently.”...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Art Direction — Volume II
Oh how things have changed since I last wrote in this space. In the past four weeks, Tech Support has taken a break, allowing the dust from the festival circuit to settle, and other titles to open....
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Cinematography — Volume II
Today we take a look a second look at, well, certainly the most “cinematic” of categories: Best Cinematography. As I like to say, cinema is born out of the camera and those who wield these devices...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume II
Glitz and glamor. Period prestige. Newbie talent and old favorites. How is the race for Best Costume Design shaping up this year? In my opinion, Jenny Beavan is leading the way at this point in...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Film Editing — Volume II
So important but so hard to notice. That’s how I would describe the work of our best film editors – those cutting artists who blend and juxtapose frames together to make films coherent, establish a...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Makeup — Volume II
As I said last week (and have said several times before), no category is year-in and-year-out more perplexing than Best Makeup. Each year, this branch finds ways to turn otherwise dubious awards...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Score — Volume II
A great score can take a film from memorable to unforgettable. Whether it be Vangelis’s synthesizer on the beach in “Chariots of Fire,” Nino Rota’s haunting waltz from “The Godfather” or John...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Editing — Volume II
Last week we discussed how a movie’s soundtrack can be immeasurably improved by music. This week, we turn to the sound technicians. While next week will concentrate on sound mixing (the overall mix...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Sound Mixing — Volume II
Sound mixing has a lot in common with sound editing, but the distinctions are still critical. While both clearly relate to what we hear in the theater, sound editing specifically relates to the...
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Visual Effects — Volume II
I find it somewhat appropriate to be ending my in-depth looks at the crafts categories with a discussion of Best Visual Effects. This is, after all, a category which awards the sort of...
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TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The look of ‘Inception’
Christopher Nolan has become known for making the Batman films look, and consequently feel, “real.” His latest film, “Inception,” despite being a visual treat, also seemed a far cry from the CGI...
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TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The design of ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp may well be poised to go down in film history as one of the famous actor-director duets. Seven collaborations to date have delighted audiences for the past 20 years. They...
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TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part one
It seems hard to believe that it’s been more than six months since I wrote this year’s introductory Tech Support column ( a dissection of the art direction race). Much has changed since then,...
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TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part two
Yesterday I began a final look at the crafts categories. Today, a look at the four remaining fields: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing. BEST ART...
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TECH SUPPORT: Analyzing the nominees
So the 83rd Annual Academy Award nominations were finally announced this week, and I did fairly well in handicapping the nominees. Outside of Best Sound Mixing, I never missed more than one nominee in...
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TECH SUPPORT INTERVIEW: The makeup of ‘Barney’s Version,’‘The Way Back’ and...
As we have noted a number of times, the makeup branch is one of the Academy’s most independently minded. While many people have criticized them in the past for bestowing the moniker “Oscar nominee” on...
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TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part one
So this is it. Over the last seven-plus months here at Tech Support, we have tried to illuminate and analyze the craft races as they unfolded. On Sunday, the winners will be revealed, ushering some new...
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TECH SUPPORT: Final analysis, part two
Yesterday we began our final look at the 10 crafts categories. Check out part one here. Today, the conclusion. Meanwhile, you can find my final predictions in all categories here. Best Music...
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TECH SUPPORT: ‘Inception’ dominates below the line
So, the morning after a terrible prediction record at this year’s Oscars, I’ll try to make some sense of what the Academy told us, and what it means for the crafts artists we got to know along the...
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